Kashmir handed over to military to suppress resistance: JRL

‘Freedom movement our love and religion, won’t be cowed down’

Srinagar, Jan 18 (KNS): The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) comprising of Syed Ali Geelani, Mohammad Yasin Malik and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Thursday addressed a joint press conference in which it asked people to observe January 26 as ‘Black Day’. The trio also slammed Indian army chief over his recent remarks and accused GOI of black mailing them through NIA raids.
The presser was held at Mirwaiz Manzil, Nigeen in which according to KNS correspondent, Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman Syed Ali Geelani made his address via telephone. The octogenarian stated that the Indian government is doing everything to “strengthen its military occupation in Kashmir.” In his brief address, incarcerated Geelani says that no resistance movement has been crushed or suppressed by the military might and that Kashmiris will continue to struggle till the right to self determination is accorded to them.
The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik in his address said that those who arrested by National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Kashmir, last year, had no active involvement during 2016 unrest.
According to the KNS correspondent, addressing a joint press conference at Mirwaiz Manzil, Malik said that the charge sheet issued by the NIA against the arrested Kashmiris is ‘farce, cryptic and vague’. He added that protest calendars during the 2016 unrest were issued by him, Geelani and Mirwaiz alone and that those who have been lodged in Tihar Jail had no active role in the entire exercise. “Mass movement of 2016 erupted after Burhan Wani sahib was martyred by the forces on July 8, 2016. People in droves took to streets as he was popular among the masses. The Indian government responded by force and tens of youth used to get killed every day. The Joint Resistance Leadership then only issued a systematic protest calendar,” Malik told reporters.
He added that when only he himself, Mirwaiz and Syed Ali Geelani were involved in issuing protest calendars, why others are being bundled in Tihar jail by NIA. “We have already dared the Indian state that if they have guts, let they arrest us. By kidnapping people and black mailing the leadership, we will not be cowed down,” Malik asserted, adding that the era of 1995 has returned to Kashmir but will not succeed once again to suppress the dissent of Kashmiri people.
The JKLF chief maintained that the level of intimidation has reached to such a pass when 90-year old Syed Ali Geelani has been confined to his home and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is even being barred from his religious duties as Mirwaiz. “This has never happened since 1931 that Kashmiri Jamia masjid was locked for so many times as we witnessed during the past two years. But we want to tell Indian government that this resistance is our love and religion. Do whatever you want, we will not be cowed down,” Malik , flanked by Mirwaiz said.
Reiterating the call to observe January 26 as ‘Black Day’, the JKLF chief stated that peoples’ democratic rights are being trampled under the feet and that there is no reason why Kashmir shouldn’t observe January 26 as ‘Black Day’. “See how amid the bone chilling freezing temperatures, people are being bundled in queues and frisked with homes being raided and properties vandalized,” Malik said, adding that Right to Self Determination alone is the demand of Kashmiris and same should be accorded to the people of the state sans any delay.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq slammed the Indian Army chief over his latest remarks on Kashmir and said that Bipin Rawat’s statement is in itself an admittance of the fact that people here want freedom from India. “The Army chief should know that history bears testimony to the fact that no resistance movement in the world has been crushed by the military might. Kashmir’s struggle is political in nature and attempts are being made to make it appear as terrorism. We will not allow this thing to happen,” Mirwaiz said.
Mirwaiz said that the effort to align the Kashmiri struggle for self determination with terrorism is propaganda to distort facts and mislead people in India and outside.
Kashmir is an internationally acknowledged dispute. It is a humanitarian problem a tragedy where a temporary line is dividing family and friends. There are resolution pending regarding our future to be decided thru right to self determination at the UN that both India and Pakistan have ratified and the all countries of the world acknowledged. It was Indian pm Nehru who proposed referendum as a solution to the dispute.
“By equating Kashmir’s political struggle for the resolution of the lingering dispute that has lead to wars among neighbors, consumed lakhs of human lives especially our younger generation and is a cause of severe repression upon us to terrorism is deception,” he said.
He said that the Army Chief saying that people of Kashmir and I quote “Have realized they cannot get what they want” and “Let me tell you, with a country like India, to seek independence from a nation where we have strong armed forces, and very strong government u cannot secede from India” unquote is admittance of what people of Kashmir want and how force military force is and will be used to prevent them from doing so. It is an open admission of occupation.
Bullying us into submission through force by stationing lakhs of forces who have been given a legal license to kill and persecute us through laws like AFSPA, arresting and torturing at will and slapping draconian laws like PSA on those who politically resist repression, chocking all space for resistance and protests against human rights violations, curbing of all civil and political rights of expression, bans and bars on movement of leadership are all acts of state
It seems that Kashmir has been handed over to military by New Delhi to take the call on how to handle it, that’s why the army chief makes frequent comment about not just military issues here but diktats on how masjids and religious institutions will function how the educational institutions will be controlled and run.
The Hurriyat (M) chief said further that Kashmir has been handed over to army and it has been converted into a military state to suppress peoples’ voice. “AFSPA, PSA and other such tactics are being employed to handle the situation. The army is now interfering into how Masjids and schools should function,” Mirwaiz said.
He said that by launching ‘Operation All Out’, the GOI has resolved to deal with Kashmir with iron fist and only such state tactics are coercing the youth of Kashmir to pick up arms again. (KNS)